This has been a while in the making, and I'm happy it's done - but have no idea how best to photograph it, so here we go.
The idea itself should be fairly evident. It's a priest standing in the ruins of his church, defending the remnants from dark devils, with the righteous power of light spilling out from his holy symbol. There's living flowers in the back of the shot, and everything in front of the church is being consumed by the darkness.
A few accessories in the side to give a lived in/refuge feel to what remains of the church. These are from various suppliers, possibly Tabletop World, Ristul's Marketplace or one of the small vendors at Salute. I sort of threw things together that felt like the right dimensions.
It should be the last bastion of whatever remains in the area. Giving the feeling that that this a partial view of a greater whole. More church out of the scene, more devil dogs being summoned from hell too.
The sly devil dog creeping from the side, but still partially caught by the light was good fun to position.
Big thing for me here is that there's no pure black anywhere on the piece, nor pure white. They weren't even on the palette at any point. The closest I got was dark brown washes on the barrels, and a very saturated dark blue for the shadow. Brightest is ivory on toenails and teeth, and Ice Yellow on the final light highlights.
I tried to convey a very bright, white light for his power, and a warmer, menacing light from hell for the devil dogs. Here's an overhead shot to demonstrate it a little better.
There's a little bend on the lower devil dog light source, but I realised my error too late - and stuck with it. This does show the difference between the purity of light source from the church, versus the glow in the background suggesting worse things to follow.
Overall, I learned quite a bit about how to build a diorama and also what not to do the next time. Getting too excited and gluing the pieces into final position is NOT RECOMMENDED and will make your life significantly more difficult, so that's definitely a tip I'd pass on right now.